I was a raised bed snob until last month

Always thought growing tomatoes in buckets was junk science. Then my neighbor grew 12 pounds of Roma tomatoes in a $3 Home Depot bucket with holes drilled in the bottom. Has anyone else had better luck with containers than they expected?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_elliot2mo ago

Wait, 12 pounds from ONE bucket? Hold on, let me do the math - that's like three or four grocery store containers of Romas. I mean, I've grown tomatoes in raised beds for years and barely squeak out 8 pounds from a cage-grown Better Boy. Did your neighbor use some kind of magic dirt or what? Was he dumping espresso grounds in there? That honestly sounds like the kind of yield you'd need a full raised bed for, not just a bucket with holes. I'd be side-eyeing that thing all season waiting for the plant to just give up halfway through.

grace6072mo ago

I mean, 12 pounds of Romas is nice and all, but are they actually good tomatoes or just a lot of mediocre ones? I've seen plenty of bucket tomato posts where the yield looks impressive but the fruit is bland and watery. Take the hype with a grain of salt until you taste one yourself.

cole3561mo ago

12 pounds from one bucket is absolutely WILD. I saw @the_elliot doing the math and honestly I had to read that number twice because it sounds like a vegetable fairy tale. No espresso grounds, no magic dirt, just basic potting mix and probably some lucky genetics on that tomato plant. I've been known to side-eye a bucket tomato myself, but after hearing that I might have to eat my words and try one next season. Still, Grace makes a good point - quality matters WAY more than quantity, so I'd need to taste one before I fully believe the hype.